Today we will read from chapter four of the Tao Te Ching.
Talk briefly about it and then enter into meditation.
Chapter four the Tao Te Ching.
The Tao is an empty vessel.
It is used but never filled.
Oh unfathomable source of ten thousand things.
Blunt the sharpness.
Untangle the knot.
Soften the glare.
Merge with dust.
Oh hidden deep but ever present.
I do not know from whence it comes.
It is the forefather of the ancestors.
This chapter is beautiful at grasping the concept of human nature versus human behavior.
When it says blunt the sharpness we remember that our strong opinions and sharp tongue is not natural.
It's behavioral and comes from the conditioning of our minds.
Blunting this sharpness in meditation can begin to remove the false programming that we are superior to nature and know best.
Become more flexible,
More at ease,
And relax into humble meditation where you can begin to be more in touch with your true nature.
Untangle the knot and get away from desires and gripping beliefs that do not serve you or your true nature.
Your habitual thoughts and behaviors are not you at your core.
In meditation you reunite with your true nature with humility by embracing the mystery and awe of life.
You soften the glare by going within.
Stop looking for answers outside of yourself.
Stop over analyzing with the rational mind that will never be able to answer questions with its limited logic.
Instead go inward to the empty vessel.
The emptiness is the way.
And as it says in the first line,
It is used but never filled and is the unfathomable source of ten thousand things.
Go inward with humility and connect with this empty vessel and merge with dust again,
Dropping the ego mind and merging with the nothingness of all of creation.
Humble yourself and be still.
Nothing to do,
Nothing to say.
Just be with the empty vessel where all of creation is.
We do not know from whence it comes,
But you can feel into its nature,
Feel into its core by going to the kingdom within.
So we begin meditation by quieting the mind,
Quieting the thoughts,
Untangling the knot.
Breathe in and breathe out as you feel the knot slowly getting looser.
You are relaxing into this moment and the next with humble acceptance and no staring glare of needing to figure anything out.
Relax the eyes and go into the darkness.
Again,
Breathing in and breathing out.
You are feeling more and more at ease and more and more ready to embrace the emptying of your mind.
The emptying of your conditioned human behavior.
Getting back in touch with the ever-present empty vessel that is the source of 10,
000 things.
You now imagine a ball of light that is starting at your head and working its way down your body.
As it travels throughout your body,
You are getting more and more calm as this ball of light erases all tension and loosens the knots that entangle you physically,
Mentally,
And emotionally.
You are feeling better and better as this ball of light works its way through your head,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Traveling into the deep crevices within you,
Creating space,
Creating deep relaxation.
It is healing your body and mind as it cleanses your organs,
Your cells,
Your blood,
And all of the mysteries of your miraculous electrical body.
This ball of light now passes gently down and through your chest,
Your stomach,
Your arms,
And now your legs as you feel the dulling of any sharp edges in mind or body,
And you are like water flowing freely.
Your body relaxed.
Your mind relaxed.
Merging with the empty vessel within.
The ball of light has now left through your feet and into the ground,
Just as you are now merging with dust,
Into nature,
Into the stillness of your being.
Be here.
Breathing in and breathing out.
All is well.
